He knew of the Locust before Emergence day because he was captured/recruited by them to create a Virus/Cure to stop the already existent lambent infection. Unfortunately this isn't all that detailed in the game and you have to purchase the books to fill you in on the most of things :td:

Unfortunately they never actually revealed what happened to his mother in any of them as far as I am aware. There was a part that went along the lines of there is something about 'Elain Fenix' people will find out eventually

The only instances of Adam being captured I think the games *ever* mentioned were:

Gears 3 - that he was captured by Prescott, rather than killed like Marcus thought.

Gears 3 - that Prescott's secret island was then later captured by the Locust, leading to Adam being in Myrrah's custody.


The whole thing with Myrrah is what bugs me the most, though. Why does she look human?!

http://gearsofwar.wikia.com/wiki/Gears_of_War_Wiki

Nine years before Emergence Day, Elain died in an unknown manner while in the Hollow under Jacinto doing field research in off-limts areas. Adam lied to Marcus and others about what happened, only telling them that she had gone missing. Elain's body was discovered in the Hollow while she was searching for Imulsion crystals, which they hoped to use as targeting lasers. Marcus would later know the truth about her disappearance.

Well where on earth did we find out the truth? This semi-confirms Marcus's mother is not in fact the Queen but in my opinion the Bold part once again raises more questions

Confirmation - Myrrah is "Ruth" from one of the collectibles at New Hope in Gears 2.